Breakdown of Sinä kujeilet ja narutat miestä hänen tietämättään.
sinä
you
hän
he / she
ja
and
mies
man
tietää
to know
naruttaa
to fool
kujeilla
to play tricks
Questions & Answers about Sinä kujeilet ja narutat miestä hänen tietämättään.
How exactly is tietämättään formed here?
It is built from the verb tietää (to know). First, we form the 3rd infinitive abessive, tietämättä (without knowing). Then, to express who is not knowing, we add the 3rd person possessive suffix -Vn (where V is the preceding vowel doubled), giving us tietämättään.
Why do we need the pronoun hänen before tietämättään?
When the person doing the main action (Sinä, you) is different from the person not doing the infinitive action (the man), you must include the genitive pronoun (hänen or heidän) for the 3rd person. If the sentence was about the man joking around without knowing it himself, it would just be Hän kujeili tietämättään, dropping the hänen because the subject of both actions is the same.
Why is the object miestä in the partitive case here?
The verb naruttaa (to fool or trick) takes a partitive object. In Finnish, verbs of deceiving or fooling are usually partitive because the action is seen as an ongoing process rather than something that has a distinct, physical end result.
The verb naruttaa is interesting. Does it come from a noun?
Yes, it is derived from the noun naru, which means string or cord. The verb literally means to string someone along, making it a very colorful and common way to say you are tricking them.
Learn Sinä kujeilet ja narutat miestä hänen tietämättään and more in Finnish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free